1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to building wall structures and, more particularly, is concerned with a wall covering adapted especially for remodeling a wall to simulate a brick wall.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the years, brick walls in buildings have had considerable appeal to the aesthetic tastes of a great many people. There have been many attempts to at least partially satisfy these tastes by the substitution of different constructions which try to simulate the brick wall appearance. Representative of the prior art are the constructions disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. to Bawtenheimer (1,926,257), Joannides (2,012,630), Schnurer (2,046,213), Mattes (2,114,451), Rueshoff (2,933,919), Workman et al (2,938,376), Taylor (3,426,490), Hicks et al (3,496,694) and Francis (4,407,104).
In both residential and commercial remodeling projects, a wall finish construction which substantially simulates the appearance of a brick wall should, at least in theory, have many advantages over an actual brick wall. One advantage should be that the simulated brick wall costs much less to install since the structure of the building may need to be reinforced to support an actual brick wall but not to support the simulated brick wall. Another advantage is that the simulated brick wall should have greater flexibility in where it can be placed due to the fact that no special substructural support is required. With equal capability, the components of the simulated brick wall should be mountable along the wall near the ceiling, the floor or anywhere inbetween. Yet another advantage is that the components of the simulated brick wall should be adapted to be applied efficiently on many different types of preexisting wall structures and be arranged together to cover wall areas of many different lengths and heights while concurrently recreating the genuine albeit irregular appearance of an actual brick wall. Still another advantage should be that the simulated brick wall occupy less room space than the brick wall. Yet another advantage should be that the simulated brick wall eliminate skin abrasions and clothing tears which normally will result from inadvertent human contact with an actual brick wall.
Many of the constructions of the prior art would appear to generally achieve their objectives under the limited range of conditions for which they were designed. Most of the constructions seem to fail to provide one or more of the aforementioned advantages which should be embodied by a wall construction which attempts to simulate an actual brick wall. Consequently, a need still exists for a renewed effort at providing an acceptable simulated brick wall construction.